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I have just been informed that San Mateo Supervisor Dave Pine has contacted County Counsel and asked him to prepare a resolution rescinding the Lifetime Achievement Award given to William Ayres in 2002. This item will be placed on the agenda for the Board of Supervisor's meeting scheduled for June 4th.

This is a long time coming. Victims and other citizenshave been asking the Board to rescind the award to Ayres for years and their requests have been ignored.

Back in October , 2011 I personally spoke with Rich Gordon , who nominated Ayres for the award back in 2002 , at the Palo Alto Farmer's Market about rescinding the award. I got a very frosty reaction.

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Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 18, 2013 at 5:37 am

Here is a letter received by Dave Pine yesterday from "David Doe", a victim of Dr. Ayres, asking that the award be rescinded.

Board of Supervisors:

I am a victim of William Ayres, a psychiatrist who worked in and contracted with San Mateo County agencies for many years evaluating juveniles for court cases, and who recently (May 16th, 2013) was found guilty of 8 counts of child molestation with special circumstances. There are at least 45 KNOWN victims of this child molester, most of them out-of-statute for criminal prosecution. There are likely scores of other victims.

It is known that police and other county agencies received complaints about Ayres in 1987 and two in 1994.

On January 15, 2002 this body (The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors) approved:

Resolution (1945) honoring William H. Ayres, M.D. for his lifetime of achievement in the field of Psychiatry, service on the Children and Families First Commission, and for his tireless effort to improve the lives of children and adolescents (Supervisor Rich Gordon)

I now implore you, the current Board of Supervisors, that given William Ayres' May 13, 2013 admission that the facts of the criminal complaints against him are true and correct, to rescind the inappropriate Lifetime Achievement Award given to this child molester by the County of San Mateo.

I hope to see this item on a very near future Board Meeting Agenda.

I also hope you understand that I prefer to remain anonymous in my request.

Thank you for your time in considering this very important, and yet easily resolved matter.

Posted by Awards
a resident of another community
on May 18, 2013 at 8:01 am

The reason this plea was entered has nothing to do with Melissa McKowan, Steve Wagstaffe, Karen Guidotti, or the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office, but everything to do with the tenacity of victims' advocate Vicky Balfour.

She should not have had to fight Wagstaffe to get him to take this prosecution seriously, but she did.

She should not of had to have endured being ejected from a court room by McKowan and Wagstaffe when she traveled here at her own expense to help victims, but she did.

The Almanac should do an in-depth piece on how Balfour had to fight for these victims' rights, and how Wagstaffe tried to stand in the way of justice proceeding, instead of assisting with it.

In addition to rescinding Ayres' award, the board should censure Wagstaffe and commend Balfour in public.

Posted by Awards
a resident of another community
on May 18, 2013 at 8:12 am

I also like to add that residents of San Mateo County, and the victims, owe a debt of gratitude to supervisor Dave Pine.

Instead of just towing the party line, Pine took the pleas of victim seriously, and effectively intervened to get Wagstaffe to move off the dime in trying to stymie this prosecution.

This is very unique, since the way things usually work in San Mateo County is for supervisors to simply sanction and encourage the actions of someone like Wagstaffe, without regard to the true propriety of them.

Thus Pine put people before politics, which is the best attribute any politician can have.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 18, 2013 at 8:48 am

Awards:

I am in total agreement. In addition to Mr. Stogner's numerous requests that the Award be rescinded, victims have also asked the Board for this over the years.

About three years ago, before Pine was a Supervisor, two mothers of Ayres victims read a letter to the Board at a meeting, asking that the award be rescinded. There was no response.

In the last six years, victims have also asked Jerry Hill, and Rich Gordon- who nominated Ayres for the award - to help rescind the award or at least put out a statement on the matter. All requests were met with stony silence.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 18, 2013 at 2:04 pm

Almanac Editors:

It is strongly suggested that you do a story about Supervisor Dave Pine's role in the Ayres case.

He is the ONLY Supervisor who has met with or spoke to victims' families since 2011. He is the ONLY one who has hounded Wagstaffe for the last two years about his concerns about the misconduct by prosecutor Mckowan.

It was Pine who put the pressure on Wagstaffe after Mckowan was disciplined by the California Bar in March of this year. When Wagstaffe was not inclined to do anything, Pine kept the pressure on. There was a closed meeting between the Supervisors and Wagstaffe, where the Supervisors expressed their concern about Mckowan, the Bar discipline, and her failures on the case.

It was because of Pine that Wagstaffe finally caved to pressure and put on two other prosecutors on the case.

Posted by Michael G Stogner
a resident of another community
on May 18, 2013 at 4:55 pm

I can say this about Supervisor Dave Pine and his interest in this case every since he was elected, and that is he has been interested, he is the only Supervisor who has asked me on at least 2 occasions how the victims and families were doing. Not one of the other Supervisors to my knowledge have asked anybody anything. It is important to make sure the other 4 Supervisors know how the residents want them to vote on this issue.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 19, 2013 at 5:43 am

In recent months, inmates who were convicted in San Mateo have come forward with horrifying stories about what Ayres did to them when they were juveniles. In one case, the prosecutor on a juvenile case sent the boy to Ayres. The boy was assaulted by Ayres. This prosecutor ended up being one of the judges on the Ayres case.

Ayres told the boy that if he told anyone about the assault, that he would "make sure the boy would get locked up forever."

The Ayres case should NEVER have been tried in San Mateo County. Wagstaffe knows how deep the ties run between Ayres and his office as well as the judges.

It has just come out recently that Wagstaffe assisted in prosecuting at least one case where the juvenile was assaulted by Ayres.

The names of the inmates have been turned over - NOT to the DA's office but to the Civil Rights section of the Special Litigation section of the Justice Department. This office investigates violations of juveniles and inmates. We need a full investigation as to how San Mateo County sent boys to Ayres for forty years, despite complaints going back as far as 1966, at least. As some of the inmates who were assaulted by Ayres were convicted in high profile cases, there is no way Wagstaffe would work to help these boys.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 20, 2013 at 8:36 am

Michael Stogner has just alerted us that the Palo Alto Daily Post has done a story today about Dave Pine asking for the Lifetime Achievement award to be rescinded.

"Ayres may lose 'achievement award"

Excerpt:

"San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine said last night that he wants the county to rescind a lifetime achievement award it gave to Dr. William Ayres, who has pleaded no contest to eight counts of felony child molestation...

Pine said he was contacted by the families of some of the victims, who said the award has caused them "great distress."

"This is a really sad chapter for San Mateo County and I do think it's appropriate to rescind the award," he said.

The resolution honoring Ayres was introduced by then- Supervisor Rich Gordon, now a state assemblyman.

Pine plans to bring forth legislation to rescind the award at a supervisors meeting on June 4."

******

Might I add that some victims and their families contacted Rich Gordon on this matter before they reached out to Pine. Gordon never responded.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 20, 2013 at 4:24 pm

Looks like the San Mateo Board of Supervisors doesn't give out actual Lifetime Achievement Awards. They do, however, as they did in Ayres' case, pass resolutions to honor various citizens for their lifetime achievement in the community.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 20, 2013 at 5:14 pm

Menlo Voter:

In October 2011, after reading that Rich Gordon was going to be "taking questions from voters" at the Palo Alto Farmer's Market, I rode my bike over to the market to speak with him.

My goal was to ask Gordon to rescind the "Award" that he had nominated Ayres for back in 2002. But as soon as he heard the word "Ayres," the body language got frosty. He folded his arms, struck a rigid pose and frowned. .He told me to email his office on the matter. I did so, but I never heard from him.

Wonder what he thinks now about Ayres pleading guilty? Will he ever make a public statement about it?

Posted by Menlo Voter
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 20, 2013 at 5:19 pm

Lurker:

NO. Gordon will never make a statement about it unless somehow forced to. The putrid, self serving garbage emails I get from him promoting himself tell me that will be the case. The man is a union stooge. Worse than that, he is a "professional" politician. Wonder what office he'll run for next when he terms out?

You should go to his next "taking questions" and ask your question again and when he tells you to email his office tell him you did, but never received an answer that's why you're there asking again.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 21, 2013 at 5:02 am

I sent in a request to Gordon in November 2011 asking that he work to rescind the award.

Here is his response:

Gordon, Richard <Richard.Gordon@asm.ca.gov>
11/20/11

Dr. Ayres was recognized by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors upon his retirement from the First Five Commission and prior to any knowledge of the allegations against him. I have no role in this issue as a member of the State Assembly. The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors could consider rescinding the resolution, but it would be highly unlikely that this would occur given that the resolution was presented prior to the surfacing of other facts.

****

But numerous victims had been going to the police, to Children's Services, to Ayres' partners, to the California Medical Board about Ayres since the 1960's!

Supervisor Dave Pine has taken the lead by putting the Lifetime Achievement Award that was issued to Dr. William Ayres in 2002 by the Board of Supervisors on the agenda. He is asking Adrienne Tissier, Carole Groom, Warren Slocum and Don Horsley to vote in favor of rescinding it immediately. I support this issue. For some reason, former supervisor Rich Gordon felt this was the right thing to do. I have always disagreed with him on this issue. This last week, William Ayres put an end to almost 50 years of suffering for the victims and families and admitted to eight felony counts of child molestation. There were more than 45 men prepared to testify. We San Mateo County can say how sorry we are to the victims and families by sending a letter, email, phone call or show up in person at the board meeting to tell the four supervisors how to vote on this issue. This is your county. Nobody has been looking out for the children or the families. Get involved, say something, this is a great opportunity to say I'm sorry.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 28, 2013 at 1:10 pm

Back in 2011, the victim who runs the Dr. Ayres blog got an unsolicited email from Rich Gordon, asking for feedback. The victim posted a comment on Gordon's Facebook page about Gordon nominating Ayres for the Lifetime Achievement award, and asked whether Gordon's attitude towards Ayres had changed? Gordon deleted the Ayres victim's comment, and he deleted similar comments posted by the victim on two subsequent occasions.

The question that I posed to Rich Gordon on his facebook page was as follows:

Supervisor Gordon:

I would be interested to know your current position on Dr. William H. Ayres, M.D. currently charged with many counts of molesting young boys who were under his "psychiatric care."
It is clear that in 2002, you thought very highly of him when you nominated him for a lifetime achievement award: [Resolution (1945) honoring William H. Ayres, M.D. for his lifetime of achievement in the field of Psychiatry, service on the Children and Families First Commission, and for his tireless effort to improve the lives of children and adolescents (Supervisor Rich Gordon)]

This despite the fact that there are at least FOUR separate complaints on the record in San Mateo County PRIOR to your 2002 nomination of Ayres for his "tireless efforts."
Has your position changed?

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on May 30, 2013 at 2:04 pm

The rescission of the Lifetime Achievement Award that was given to Dr. William Ayres back in 2002 has been officially placed on the Board of Supervisor's agenda at their meeting on June 4, 2013 at 9:00 AM.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on Jun 4, 2013 at 2:39 pm

At the Supervisor's meeting today. Atherton resident Jon Buckheit's criticism of the Ayres prosecutor and Wagstaffe's refusal to discipline her despite her being disciplined by the California Bar for lying to victim's families was not just spot on but eloquent. And he doesn't even have any connection to the Ayres case. The victims and families were thrilled with Buckheit's statement and couldn't stop talking about it afterward.

Posted by Lurker
a resident of another community
on Jun 5, 2013 at 4:04 am

The Ayres victims want to express their profound gratitude to Supervisor Dave Pine for his efforts and his emotional and eloquent speech at the meeting yesterday. Carol Groom was another Supervisor who seemed to be having an emotional reaction to statements from a friend of an Ayres victim who committed suicide. Perhaps the other Board members will take more of an interest in this case should more misconduct occur by Wagstaffe and his crew.